What Darkness Lies
by lucy.ditty
Summary: "With Hinata..." A wistful smile at a fleeting memory. He sighed as his breath shook. "With her, it was like Sasuke's world was set aglow." It is rather difficult, shining a light without casting a shadow. King and Queen AU.
1. A Night Darker than Black

_**DISCLAIMER:** Only the story and plot belong solely to me. Everything else belongs to their respective owners._

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 ** _in finem res_ : A Night Darker than Black**

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"Knock down the doors!" The captain of the guard screamed. "Use every ounce of strength you have! Knock it down!"

Voice hoarse from shouting and hands course from decades of work, Naruto Uzumaki grew up among the ranks of the military. Serving under three generations of the royal family, he had grown with the man who now sat upon the throne, and like hell would it be within his lifetime that the country would see its dynasty come to an end.

"God dammit." A voice from the back hissed. "Are you even trying?"

The soldiers, wielding their weapons, drawing their armor and their allegiance branded to skin, looked upon as a man, twiglike in build, shoved his way through their ranks and threw his body against the large wooden door. Shikamaru Nara, the palace's chief strategist, was not a man to use brute force. With his porcelain skin and ebony hair shaking against its massive weight, he had often been mistaken for a noble till the blistering, raven-eye scar revealed itself on his back. Shikamaru was a man with a pristine reputation of being precise and effective, doing things with minimal effort and maximum gain, a genius of the highest order – a genius among prodigy.

Now reduced to storm struck hair and blood shot eyes. He rammed against the doors.

Again and again, he slammed his body into the wooden frame. Again and again, he knocked his fragile bones against the gargantuan doors. Again and again, the sounds of impact upon impact echoed throughout the halls. Again and again, again and again. Till flowered embroidery and bird like images bruised onto his skin. Again and again, he tried with all his might, but the doors did not budge.

"What are you all standing around for?" Naruto yelled, his voice cracking under the pressure of his heart pounding within his chest. "Knock it down!"

Along the corridors of the palace an audience had been growing.

Emerging from their quarters like pigeons flocking home. Their gasps erupting at the sight from outside the king's doors, a sight of discord and chaos. The soldiers having their weapons unsheathed and flailing, servants scurrying about with arms to their heads, statues and pottery shattered at their feet.

A woman, her hair (usually styled tightly behind her head) spread around her like a golden halo, emerged from the sea of ladies in waiting. Her simple nightgown wrapped around her did not disguise her distinct features of periwinkle eyes and cupid bow lips. Yamanaka had been in charge of tending to and protecting the empress for generations and her authority among the other ladies in waiting transcended any form of confusion.

"What is going on?" she heard murmured around her. "Why are the king's soldiers here?"

Yamanaka Ino, for once, could not give a coherent answer. She had been in the palace since its completion, and had served under the royal family since as far back as she could recall, and though she did not know everything, she was eloquent and bright and could – at the very least – pretend that she knew all. But her eyes stared agape at the scene before her. No words could be formed amidst the pandemonium.

"Ino…"

A hand gently pulled on her sleeve but Yamanaka Ino did not shift her gaze away from the commotion.

Sakura Haruno did not stand as tall as Yamanaka Ino, nor did she possess the same commanding aura to make her way through the more senior of the ladies in waiting, but since her arrival in the palace, she and Yamanaka Ino had been closer to each other than they had ever been to any other female in their lives.

"What is happening?" Sakura looked on in horror. The sight of the captain of the guard and chief strategist so frantic and out of sorts made her heart quicken in panic and worry. Why attack the king's door with such brute force?

"What is the meaning of all of this?" Ino commanded.

She was shoved to the side. A sea parted for a line of men and women of the court, their midnight locks and pale white complexions crowding in, ghost in demeanor and stature. And the figure at the head of the line could be recognized without fault, standing with head tilted high in uniform with the family around him, advisor of the Hyuuga court and head of the empress's militia, Hyuuga Neji.

Upon the court's arrival, everyone but the soldiers became silent. The pounding of the door continued and Shikamaru did not rest. The sweat that lined his features grew sticky and hot but his determination did not fade, his strokes did not falter.

Naruto Uzumaki, having caught immediate sight of the disturbance, did not hesitate to approach the older man. His teeth barred and face red in anger, when he grabbed onto the Hyuuga robes with such ferocity, it was like looking into the eyes of a wild fox.

"Would you care to explain…? Neji?" He grunted through ragged breaths. "Why in all heavens is Her Majesty trying to assassinate the king?"

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 **. . .**

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 _in finem res: "into the end of things"; a play on the literary term 'in medias res' or "into the middle of things"_

 _It's been a while since I've written anything exclusively for fanfiction. It's been a little rough in life and a bit hectic so I apologize. So I have a couple of other stories to update and finish? Yes... why yes I do and I apologize for that. But I hope that you all are able to enjoy this little story till I update those!_

 _Apologize for the reupdate. I changed a few discrepancies._

 _All **reviews** are appreciated! Please support and anticipate the next chapter!_


	2. Chapter One

_**WARNING:** This story will include use of strong language._

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 _dear beloved_  
 _who mourns the loss of a single star..._

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 **Chapter One**

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A full moon, hanging like the paper lanterns that lined the walls of the watch towers, disappeared behind a blanket of clouds. The entire kingdom was cloaked in night. Only two soldiers stood upright at their post, one man, one woman. It was comical, how one seemed to completely tower over the other, her long auburn hair being swept up in the chilling wind.

"I can't see with your hair obstructing my vision," the man said, his voice too serious for his young face.

"Hmm," she seemed to half acknowledge him. "The clouds are looking awfully mean tonight don't yah think?"

"How can clouds look 'mean'?"

The man pulled a few strands that had gotten stuck in the knots of his soldiers' robe. Looking up at the brightly illuminated night sky, he could see in the distance, beyond the mountains that surrounded the capital, large, black cumulous rolling to cover the moon at a terrifying pace.

"Maybe it'll rain tonight…" The man commented off handedly.

"There was an old oracle in my home town, old lady who could barely stand to get herself to the washroom,'' the woman spoke, her heavy northern coast accent coming through, "she told me, just before I left to join the central army, to beware of dark clouds in the night. She told me nothing good is bound to come from rain in the night."

The man stared at the woman, his young face like a frightened pup. He swallowed.

"W-why believe in something s-so ridiculous?" He quaked. "Honestly, you Light folk and your strange beliefs…"

The woman only gave a sideways glace to the soldier beside her, eyes narrowing in silent annoyance.

Lightning struck. A bright, flashing light that harbored over them followed closely by its other half and friend, thunder. It roared with unrelenting strength, vibrating the soldiers on guard to their core, bones reverberating. It did not take long after the first few drops of rain for the capital to be completely drenched. No longer was the world around them illuminated in a soft glow from a hanging moon, but instead shrouded in shadow and darkness, a _dripping_ falling from the smoldered torches.

"Stop! Stop there, wanderer!" A guard from an adjacent watch tower shouted.

As if having appeared from the darkness, a figure appeared just over the bridge. Too far to determine sex or age, but the tattered clothing, dishevel hair and steady gate could still be seen through the haze of an autumn storm. When told to stop, it did.

"State your business here, wanderer!" The guard shouted.

No response.

"Wanderer! State your business!" The guard shouted once more.

Still, the figure stood with unwavering determination even as the rain began pouring harder on its shoulders. It did not answer.

"Wanderer!"

It fell.

Like a lifeless doll, its body collapsed onto the stone pavement, a splash from a growing puddle rippling beneath it.

With a nod from a commanding officer, one soldier was belayed over the side of the wall. His feet moving quickly down the side. By the time his feet were able to touch the floor, his robes had been completely soaked through, the rain water sliding like a stream down the sheath of his sword. He tugged a few times and the rope was collected back up. Carefully, he approached the figure lying face down, rain beating down heavily on its back; he drew his sword.

When he first laid his hands on the figures shoulders, the first thing he noticed was how thin the robe on the stranger was, body so cold to the touch. When there was no reaction from the stranger, he shifted its weight and rolled it over onto its back so that the drenched hair around its head fell, sticking to its face. Pale skin, its chest rising and giving shuttering falls. Its chest…

"It's a woman!" the soldier reported. Bending down, slowly placing coarse fingers just over the unconscious woman's pulse. "She seems to be alive…barely…"

He fully squatted beside the woman, sheathing his sword back into its hilt. He could see in his peripherals as a few more soldiers began scaling down the palace walls, but his eyes wandered up and down the woman's body. She was frail, thin, perhaps muscle was hidden somewhere beneath her skin but it was unlikely that - if she were an enemy spy - she could overpower any number of fully trained soldiers in combat.

 _Flash._

Lightning blinded his vision as the rain continued to pour relentlessly over the lifeless body.

Removing a few wet strands that stuck and obscured her face, his head tilted at the sight of her. He was struck, perhaps, by how soft her features were; how soft and serene her expression was. She was young and beautiful. He never expected her to be homely, but there was an air of majesty about her that – even in her unconscious state – could be instantly-…

... -recognition. A birthmark in the shape of an eight petal lotus.

He dropped his sword.

The soldier immediately stripped off the top soaked layer of his robes and tore off the inner linen lining that had been just a little dampened. In a frantic, clumsy stagger, he enveloped her and wrapped her securely into his arms. Her face pressed to his chest to keep her from view of the other soldiers.

"What's the matter?" another soldier came running from the palace wall, their brows furrowed and hands placed firmly on the hilt of their sword.

"Wake the king! Wake the king!" the soldier screamed, running straight past his comrades and straight to the palace wall. The bundle in his arms jostled and fumbled in his hold but was no longer being drenched in the storm. "Open the doors! God dammit! Open the god damn doors men! Wake the king!"

"What are you doing, man?" the commanding officer called down. "What has come over you?"

"Open the fucking doors, dammit! Wake the king! Can't you see?" He motioned to the limp cradle in his hold, voice hysteric. "Can't you tell? By all heavens I have no idea how. But can't you see?"

The men and women from atop the watch towers gathered to the edge, their necks craning to garner a better look.

The soldier, pleading as he was, screamed with all the air in his chest.

" _K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika_ has returned!" He yelled till his lungs grew sore.

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There was a whisper in the halls that morning. Like the light of dawn that crept along the corridors of the grand palace, vibrant colors revealing their brilliance, there was an ever growing sense of breath and life that hadn't been seen in the palace in years. Even if it had only begun as a rumor heard from one of the stable boys, by midday, it had become the primary topic of gossip among the servants.

"Did you hear? Her Majesty the queen has returned!"

They said.

"But I had heard she had died. Something about a cliff?"

"I heard it was a kidnapping."

"Didn't it have something with a neighboring kingdom?"

They whispered.

"Are they certain it's her?"

"They say she just appeared at the gates last night."

"Really? In that storm?"

"Oh dear! Is she all right?"

"Where has she been all these years?"

Their gossip chirped and cheeped.

"Well, one thing is for certain, I can't imagine being the king in a matter like this."

They whispered. Their chatter filling the servants' quarters and every crevice of the palace, following them down the halls and in the courtyard. Voices of lively gossip and laughter lifted into the air and lingered, their usual conversations of complaints and grievances seemed to be halted for the day – or perhaps had just been drowned amongst all the noise.

" _Ah-choo_!"

"One of the servants must be talking about you."

Naruto Uzumaki, captain of the King's Guard sat upright in the king's chambers. His back leaning against high glass windows that lined one side of the wall, its frame reaching toward the ceiling, curtains pulled to the side with satin woven ropes and tassels. Picturesque laziness always seemed to be what he aimed for during the times he was able to rest and, simply, be a friend.

"You look like a brooding statue," he jested, "the least you could do is at least _act_ like someone who just had the queen of their fuckin' country returned to them. Never mind her being your _wife_ , eh? Sasuke?"

The morning light that entered through the windows illuminated the gold and silver décor and glimmered off of weapons mounted on display of his power. Yet he was like a porcelain doll. Sitting in the only corner of the room where shadows seemed to touch, His Majesty, the king, Sasuke Uchiha, had his back hunched in the velvet cushion of a chair, the shadow of his profile being casted in rich reds and blues of his bedroom walls.

"Are you at least going to say anything?" Naruto asked warily.

Fingers locked together and pressed to his lips, his eyes did not shift from the pieces of a chest board placed mid-game in front of him. His brows were furrowed and his hair a mess, he hadn't changed out of his night robes since being woken in the middle of the night.

Footsteps paused just outside of the king's chamber. Naruto immediately stood, fixing his robes and weapon to look presentable, a slight pinkish hue suddenly creeping onto his cheeks.

"Lady Sakura!"

Sakura Haruno stood with her hands tucked beneath a washcloth, her head held leveled.

"Is His Majesty the king in his quarters?" She spoke. And though it had been a while since she had moved to the capital, her accent from the Southern fields could still be heard in the inflections she placed at the ends of her sentences.

Naruto gave a bright – if not goofy – smile.

"He's-…"

"This better bear good news."

In a heartbeat, Sasuke had moved from his spot in the far corner of the room to standing at his full height, towering over the impish girl.

"Your Majesty…"

Her voice small and breathy, she could feel as her breath touched just the nape of his neck. She had to step back to see all of him properly, her washcloth dropping from her hands in the process.

"Ey, sir high and mighty, don't scare the lady," Naruto reprimanded.

Sasuke all but listened to the blonde's words and continued standing – imposing – his authority.

"I-it's quiet alright, Naruto." Sakura bent to pick up the fallen rag and quickly composed herself.

"What news do you bring?" Sasuke asked.

"After cleaning and properly dressing Her Majesty, I instructed the Yamanaka to take note of her vitals and everything seems to be normal, save for a slight fever which we were able to bring down with wet towels and -…"

"Has she woken?" Sasuke interrupted.

Sakura paused.

"No… Your Majesty…" She said slowly. "She hasn't."

Silence.

Sasuke, having been standing completely on the balls of his feet, shifted his weight back, giving only a single solemn nod. The morning sun shined through the large windows behind him. He waved a hand in motion for Naruto to follow, which the blonde did in stride. Walking just a step behind the king, he followed as the two walked out and down the palace corridor at an even pace. They turned left.

"Where are you going?" Naruto protested. "The queen's quarters are the other way!"

"You're too loud," Sasuke said, rubbing an ear with the palm of his hand. "I won't see her… not till she has awoken."

"What?" Naruto was visibly surprised. "Why not?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"Hey, you can't just stay silent about this." Naruto stammered. "Oi, bastard, are you ignoring me?"

"Tell the stable boys to get Kurai saddled and ready, I'm going hunting."

"Hunting?" Naruto exclaimed. "Now? Aren't you going to meet with the council? You can't just _not_ show up. You're the fuckin' king!"

"Fine, then bring Shikamaru along."

"How? You sent him to the eastern boarder to meet with the governor stationed there," Naruto upbraided, "remember?"

"Then send word to the counsel."

Sasuke did not miss a beat, his steps coinciding perfectly with the rhythm of his words. Naruto, on the other hand, was struggling to keep up.

"Kill me now…" He breathed under his breath.

"I can have that arranged." Sasuke said in all seriousness.

"Shut up, bastard!"

As the two men went about their banter down the hall, acting as their usual difficult selves, Sakura was left wondering how they could fall so easily back into their normal routines. How they could simply act as if it were just another day? As if nothing had changed? Or was it only she who seemed to feel the shift?

She could remember with pristine clarity the day she had been chosen to enter the palace, a heart of pure innocence and wonder and excitement when her eyes first witnessed as the large ivory gates as the end of the stone bridge opened, just for her passage. Just having turned the ripe age of fourteen, she had all the imagination of a young girl from the far stretches of the country's countryside. A mother who could only bare a daughter and a father who labored his old days in the rice fields, with barely a hillside to their name, it was like a fairytale come true when the King's Guard had come to her small town, saying that she had been personally chosen to be accompanied to the new capital.

It was like a dream, and she was floating in a sea of wonder.

" _Is this the palace?"_ She had asked in wide-eyed awe.

As soon as their horses passed through the gates, immediately were young stable boys waiting to take their reins, expertly holding the steeds still to allow them to dismount.

" _Yes, miss."_

A guard at her side, he held his hands out for her to take, a chivalrous gesture she was not accustomed to back home. His military robes made from fabrics that would not tear, and a forehead protector that glinted in the late morning sunlight. He was handsome, she could tell, but she had little interest in men when the prospects of a life among royalty awaited her.

When her feet landed on smooth cobble stone, her eyes were met with a Cupid's bow and periwinkle eyes that looked upon her with the prowess of a cat. Her posture straight and golden hair pulled behind her so tight, not a hair dare fall out of place.

" _Haruno Sakura, I presume?"_ she had spoken, voice seeming no older than her early teens. _"My name is Yamanaka Ino,_ Kōgō heika _'s first lady in waiting."_

" _I-is Ino your given name… or Yamanaka…?"_ Sakura had asked, a bit sheepish.

" _Ino_."

Yamanaka Ino gave a small smile, but the lack of any change in the rest of her features made it difficult to tell whether it was disingenuous or not. And suddenly, Sakura Haruno was made fully aware of simply how out classed she was. Not having spent even an hour within the walls of the grand palace, she had never felt so inferior (and it had only been in meeting a simple lady in waiting).

The other farming children her age all had no ambition beyond the multitude of fields that surrounded their little town. Spending their simple days hunched over in the sweltering sun, sweat dripping from their brow, Sakura had always wanted more. To experience the adventures she read about in her story books and visit the places they learned from wandering merchants that only she seemed to care about.

" _Come Haruno-san, I will be taking you under my wing till you have become better adjusted to your duties here in the palace,"_ Ino had said.

Sakura had blushed, being addressed by her family name felt too formal, completely out of place in her village clothing.

" _Please, call me Sakura,_ " she had said in a low voice, almost a whisper. It was amazing that the other girl even heard.

" _That would not be fitting,"_ was all the other girl said.

All she needed was to give a concise nod, and suddenly they were alone in the courtyard. Only Yamanaka Ino and Sakura Haruno's feet remained standing on the cobble stone that stretched in all colors of pastel and sunsets.

The inside of the first state room seemed to swallow them upon entry, their high arching ceilings and windows that lined the walls. Curtains of velvets and satins and floors of glossed marble. Even beside the mountains she had never felt so small, it frightened her. And it only seemed to make her feel even more miniscule as the two continued down a corridor that only seemed to lead to another corridor and another and another. Sakura had lost track of how many turns they had made, but each new twist seemed to only greaten the distance she felt between the home she once knew and the one she was about to lead. Even as a humble servant of the palace, she was far from where she had been.

Sakura had marveled at every corner, every statue, every confectionary and center piece that she saw. The workers that did go about their jobs and passed them by would give a small greeting to the two girls in passing, but never fully pausing from their work. Ino, too, did not seem to be easily distracted from the tasks she had to do. Walking with conviction and purpose, she led the two of them throughout the palace; through hallways and rooms upon rooms, till they reached a door that seemed to lead them out into the open and into an area of the palace that, upon first glance, looked much different from the gaudy beauty of her fairytale picture books.

Immediately, he eyes fell on the simplicity and cleanness of the architecture. A garden of wooden decks and bamboo bridges, paper doors and low rise ceilings; not a beam out of place or detail unneeded, it was like a scene from straight out of an Light country painting, a Northern utopia. There were serene ponds and koi fish, pink lilies and cherry blossoms in full bloom littering the pebbled ground like snow falling in the winter – something else she had never experienced living south of the Fire and Light boarder.

And there _he_ stood, like a mannequin from a painting, staring off into the distance of a far off land.

" _Your Majesty!"_ Ino had exclaimed. And for the first time since their meeting, the golden haired girl lowered her head and stature in a complete bow.

Sakura had been startled. As the boy – no older than herself – turned his head toward them, as if being awoken from a quiet dream, she did not fully realize the magnitude of the figure standing before them. This was her king.

Ino quickly pulled Sakura down into a bow, her head being crushed into the floor. She had bitten her tongue and did her best to hold in a hiss, the pain stinging.

" _Is this the girl that Lady Tsunade recommended?"_ She heard him say.

" _Yes, Your Majesty,"_ Ino responded.

" _Stand,"_ he had commanded.

Ino, with only a slight moment of hesitance, lifted herself off of the floor, slowly bringing Sakura up with her. Sakura, still sucking on her wounded tongue, timidly straightened her posture almost unconsciously. Looking up from between the fringes of her cherry pink hair, her breath hitched when strong fingers grabbed both sides of her cheek. Without any warning, her face was pulled forward so that her feet stumbled and her nose just barely came in contact with the boy standing in front of her. He captured her.

She found herself once more staring in wide eyed awe at the proximity of her and the king, his fingers, softer than she imagined, touching the coarseness of her wind burned skin as she found herself turning red with embarrassment. His eyes so intense. Features distinct yet soft, a face of symmetry and proportion, was the face of royalty.

She could feel his breath so close to hers, lips just barely parted as his eyes roamed over every freckle on her face. She was growing hot as she could feel his royal robes brush against her skin.

He let her go.

Without another word, he left the garden.

And all at once, as the two young girls walked across the courtyard, not only was Sakura realizing how insignificant her little country life seemed within the great walls of the grand palace, but also just how empty life was within it. Where once there could be stable boys who took the reign of your horse and soldiers to act on chivalry, so could there be no one. And if there could be no one even when in the grand palace, what did that make her? A simple country girl with big dreams… how insignificant were they?

And she hadn't yet spent even an hour within the palace walls.

That day, when she had first arrived at the palace, the queen had already been missing for three months.

* * *

"Hanabi, if it isn't something urgent, speak to Kou."

The Hyuuga study was as spotless as it was vast. Only consisting of clean lines and perfect shapes. Hyuuga Neji sat at the center, legs neatly crossed beneath a cypress desk and brush in hand, looking like a single tree standing upright at the heart of a valley. The green _tatami_ that lined the floors stretched from the large Fire styled doors to the opposing wall that opened into the palace garden, a perfect eighty-eight from width to length. The empty desks that lined the far walls only succeeded in making the room appear emptier.

Neji placed his brush down against the ink block, a _clink_ echoing against the walls.

"Hanabi," he sighed "I can't entertain you at the moment."

He motioned to the pile of scrolls to his left. Hanabi remained silent while she sat on her heals, head tilted down, back parallel to the doors behind her.

"Hanabi," Neji said with all the patience he could muster.

The slight breeze brought a warmth to the general chill of the well-insulated palace walls, allowing the feeling of summer to linger on an autumn mid-morning. The leaves in the garden having held through the worst of the storms, the rainy season was just passing and the air was still damp. Only Hanabi furiously insisted that she wear her winter robes that morning though the remnants of a late summer lingered in the air. Her pale skin looking even paler from the folds of dark blues and lavenders. Though her features were traditional Hyuuga, something in her sullen posture made her look an awful lot like her sister.

Hauntingly so.

"Hana-…"

"I apologize for bothering you," Hanabi said, bowing with two hands in front of her. Fingers pressed into the floor while her palms rested on a bed of air. "Neji-nii-sama."

" _-sama_ ": an honorific placed at the end of his title like an afterthought. Neji hid the sting her words gave him, the foreign sound of them on her tongue, a spiteful resonance on her lips. Hanabi raised her head but refused to look her cousin directly in the eyes, her gaze focused on the _tatami_ in front of him. She left the room and allowed the guards to shut the doors behind her, midnight hair pooling around her. Kou, standing in his armored robes, had about as much life in his eyes as the empty halls that surrounded the Hyuuga study.

"Come, Hanabi-sama," he instructed her, "It is time for your political literature lessons."

The lithe girl showed little emotion as she turned on her heels, hair and robes trailing behind her as she left the Eastern Hyuuga Wing with a small gust of the western winds.

After hearing the echoing _click_ of the doors shutting, Neji slumped and wilted. Like a weight had been placed down onto his shoulders, there was a heavy force pushing at his chest, tugging it down till the curse mark that he adorned rested onto the papers scattered across his desk. An ache that throbbed in his temples, he could already feel the slight sting in his brow.

With a shaky breath and a haggard sigh, he clutched at the robes that had been feeling too tight on his frame.

"Have you come back to punish me?" He uttered the words like a prisoner to a cage, gripping the bars so tightly till the knuckles bleach and palms bleed. His eyes shut and the world was dark, save for the howling of voices in his head. "Have you come back to haunt me further?"

And he remained alone in the center of the vast Hyuuga study.

* * *

The arrow hit the target square in the neck, the fowl falling to the floor as its flock fluttered their feathers away. Kurai, a black maned mare, whinnied took a few steps back as Sasuke pulled back on his reins. The bird plummeting before them.

"Alright," Naruto sighed, "As much as I enjoy going out to catch animals for the kitchen with you, you know what I enjoy more?"

Sasuke dismounted from his horse, his robes shuffling as he approached his catch. He did not respond to the Captain of the Guard's rhetorical question. Naruto leaned forward on his steed.

"I enjoy you doing your duties as king!" His voice raised and there was rustling as any remaining curious forest creatures scurried away. "Oi, bastard? Are you listening?"

Sasuke said nothing as he returned to his horse, fowl in one hand and bloodied arrow in the other. He roped the sad carcass of an animal by its feet along with the other three catch of the day.

"The sun is already past its peak, Sasuke, you know what that means?" The look of annoyance and impatience that laced in Naruto's words and face fell on deaf ears. "The council meeting has already been going on for an hour, and you – the king – are not there to listen to the state of affairs."

Sasuke expertly mounted Kurai, only a light readjustment to his position for comfort.

"Since when were you ever concerned about my duties as king?" Sasuke commented, if not a little snide. "All those times when you would flick rocks at the back of my head during council meetings?"

Naruto widened his eyes in slight shock and sudden embarrassment.

"Not fair!" He exclaimed. "You can't hold that against me, we were kids!"

"Aren't we still?" Sasuke said.

The summer sun shone brightly as they turned their horses south, noses pointed for the palace. Sasuke held his head high, as he had been taught since young, but there was always a drop in his chin that Naruto recognized. An uncharacteristic drop in the chin that Naruto had often been reprimanded for growing up as a soldier in the King's Guard.

There had always been something about the smugness in the way that Sasuke carried himself that Naruto had immediately detested. As a boy, seeing the young Sasuke – then second prince and ambassador to the Land of Fire – that made the blood that ran through Naruto the orphan's veins burn. Children of the same year and age, yet, even if he were royalty, Naruto had envied such arrogance.

But, after the brutal murder and assassination of the Uchiha line, rushed coronation, and sudden kidnapping and…disappearance…of the queen, there seemed to no longer be anything to envy. And soon enough, Naruto found himself befriending – pitying – the boy of the same age that he had once detested.

"This year marks our nineteenth," Naruto chuckled.

"Doesn't that still make us children?" Sasuke said, voice sullen as he saw the walls of the palace come into view just over the precipice, a view that weighed on every nightmare. A night of a raging storm, just like the one the night before.

* * *

The afternoon grew dull as the sun held itself just barely above the skyline, a rustle of the afternoon winds blew and sent a chill down the spine of the woman standing at the bottom of the wooden staircase. Her golden hair blending into the scene of an early sunset. Yamanaka Ino stood with her arms poised at her sides and a breath held in her chest, a disconcerting look knitted in the furrow of her brow and clench of her hands. Her limbs fatigued from the hours she had spent training in the dojo hall, the feeling of a cool _tantō_ blade against her side.

The chambers for the ladies in waiting were positioned on the lower levels of the empress's tower, a design made so that the ladies in waiting could better perform their duties to the royal family.

There was an eerie feeling in the halls among the other girls. Ino could feel their restlessness as they had moved about their duties and training, the wariness in their eyes and hesitance in their strides. For so long the top of the tower had been empty, unoccupied – vacant of life.

"Do you believe in life among the dead?"

The voice had startled the blonde girl, something that was not common and only furthered the frown on the young woman's face.

"Who allowed you within the tower doors," Ino spoke in a voice so polite it was almost difficult to detect the harshness of the words she used, "Uzumaki-san?"

"Don't blame Sakura, I forced her hand."

Naruto stood in his full soldier garb, befitting of a captain and head of the Fire military. A complete contrast to his goofy almost childlike grin. Tanned, coarse skin from years of training in the elements, his body looked worn in comparison to small and faded scars that marred Ino's beautiful hands. She was nearly two years his senior, but there was something in his eyes at that moment, in the flicker of the disappearing day, that made him look like he had lived a lifetime before her.

"Haruno-san has no authority over this tower," Ino said.

Naruto shrugged.

In the years following the empress's disappearance, the importance of her ladies in waiting felt as if it had been reduced to that of a mere foot servant – at least in the eyes of the other soldiers within the palace walls.

"What business do you have here?" A hint of malice – or perhaps hurt pride – laced her words.

Naruto, who leaned himself against the open window, looked out into the palace garden, always mesmerized by the Light style of aesthetics.

"Honestly, I didn't think I'd actually get this far." He admitted. "I suppose you wouldn't let me see _her_ would you?"

"I'd kill you before I let you lay eyes on _K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika_ ," Ino said.

Naruto scoffed.

"I would bet on it," he said, "I make it a point to be sure my sword isn't stained with the blood of a woman."

Ino gave him a mocking glare but refused to acknowledge his clearly patronizing statement.

"I'm unsure of what you expected to accomplish," she said, "but to within the quarters of _K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika_ is overstepping your boundaries as a mere servant to the king. You should leave."

Naruto looked up at the staircase that led into the second lady in waiting quarters. And just beyond that Naruto knew of the special floor made specifically for Ino and the other Yamanaka of the palace, just below an empty platform for privacy for the doorway that lead to the queen's chambers, an elaborate pathway that only few had been privy to see.

"You may leave the same way you came," Ino repeated her command.

"You haven't answered my question," Naruto said. Turning his head back to the young woman in her traditional robes, no one would have suspected the amount of damage the elegant woman could deal with a blade and paper weapons. "Do you believe in life among the dead?"

The confusion in Ino's face told stories. Naruto chuckled.

"Back in the homeland, we have superstitions of the souls of the dead coming back to haunt the living." Naruto explained. "Most do not believe in spirits willingly choosing to stay in our world. Most choose to believe that a person would ratherchoose to move on into the heavens, so only the vengeful would be the ones to stay."

"If those beliefs are true, then your entire country must cower in fear for all their fallen rulers," Ino said.

Naruto frowned.

She realized that her choice of words were said in bad taste, but she had little sympathy for any of the soldiers in the King's Guard, much less for the captain. Not that Naruto had ever been anything but short of courteous towards her, if not a bit condescending. She sighed and gripped the sides of her sleeves.

"The Light have a belief that if one is to perish in this life before their duties have been fulfilled, they are reborn till it has been completed," Ino said.

"But in the same body?" Naruto looked up the stairs again.

"It should never happen. Only if their duty cannot be fulfilled in another form," she said, looking out to the orange and rose-colored hue of the setting sky. "We have only one account of it happening in the history of our people.

"A woman who had drowned at sea on her way to the neighboring kingdom suddenly appeared on shore just has new of her death had reached their country."

There was an eerie silence that began to swell between the two. Ino gripped herself tighter and felt compelled to reach out and push the captain out of the tower. As the empress's first lady in waiting and first born daughter of the Yamanaka clan, she refused to allow herself to appear vulnerable.

"So…" Naruto began, smiling, "it was for good in the end."

Naruto was the kind of man who was tied to convictions like being tied to a stake, not hearing him scoff or foolishly joke at the practices of her people made her uneasy. Ino fingered the embroideries of silver lilies and lotus that lined her robes like the scars on her body.

"There are many variants of the story with different reasons for why the woman needed to meet the man and where and how the events occurred. But the most common one is of framing them as lovers." Ino scoffed. "It is a story that children of the Land of Light grow up hearing. Sung to them in songs." Her periwinkle eyes were becoming wet and she turned her face so he could not see. "But I always found it cruel."

Naruto cocked his head, having never seen the first lady in waiting show him any other emotion other than cold annoyance or contempt.

"I've always found it to be quite tragic…"

Naruto didn't understand. But in this world where Fire and Light seemed to mix, he had accepted long ago that there would be things that would never make sense to him, and the solemn look in Ino's eyes in the glow of dusk reminded him of an all too familiar look he had seen too many times in the face of a good friend.

" _If I could make the dead come back to life, I would,_ " had been words that Sasuke had uttered on more than one occasion, though that particular time, under the fall of late summer rain, seemed more broken and weak.

There were times when the storms at the boarder would become almost unbearable and unfitting for the young king to venture outside of the Uchiha chambers, but on that day Naruto had found the solemn body of his longtime friend out in the Hyuuga gardens, one of the few places in the Hyuuga quarters non-Light kingdom personnel were allowed to venture.

" _Are you trying to fall ill, bastard?"_ Naruto had jested in his usual humor, though the words had come out fumbled and clumsy, hesitant and stumbling on the first syllable.

During that time, Naruto had been soldier in the King's Guard for nearly seven years and though he was normally just a little taller, when Sasuke slouched his boyish frame almost seemed to crumble under the weight of the world.

" _You know Kakashi is going to have my head if you have so much as a single drop of snot coming from your nose tomorrow,_ " Naruto had continued with his joke.

Sasuke paid no mind, his head tilted, cold eyes fixated on his bare feet against the bamboo bridge at the center of the garden. A river fell from the tips of his hair into the bond below him and Naruto was beginning to wonder how many drops that fallen were also the tears he refused to shed in front of others. Naruto couldn't count the number of times as a child he had felt that painful sting in his eyes.

" _The dead don't come back, Sasuke_." His wary smile had dropped. " _You and I both know that."_

And in the silence that filled between Naruto and Ino, the hallow walls of the empress's fortress gently shook in the wind. A sound of doors slowly opened as there was a gasp when a few of the other ladies in waiting entered to find the captain of the King's Guard in their quarters.

Ino shook what melancholic look she had had off her features and resumed her usual expression of confident smugness, a small quirk of her lips and tilt of the brow.

"You know the way out," she coldly told him.

Naruto scoffed and wiped the side of his face, unsure of whether to laugh or sneer. Instead, he made a click of his tongue and gave a friendly wave.

"Well, it doesn't matter much anyways," he said, sure to be the one to have the last word, "the dead can't come back to life. Even an idiot like me knows that much."

* * *

A silent room and a sea of black hair and ghostly eyes, the Hyuuga had amassed in the far reaches of the Hyuuga quarters, their traditional robes and solemn expressions filled the small spaces their languid bodies could not. The night air was but a tickle on their pallid complexions. Hyuuga Hiashi, a man of stern appearance and a composure that mirrored the two elderly poised behind him, which he was a mirror for the young adolescent girl to his right and the straight backed man in front of him. Three generations of Hyuuga sat in solidarity as their gazes did not flicker from the watchful eyes of their kin and counsel.

The sound of creaking wood sounded as servants walked just a pace slower, passing by the paper thin doors. The Hyuuga had been taught and bred since young to be wary of their words, even having been rumored to be taught a language only those born with the frigid blood of the White Eyes could understand.

"This is a blessing," an elder spoke out loud.

There was a silent agreement between eyes. Neji clenched the wrinkled fabric over his knees but did not show any signs of discomfort on his face. It is a grave mistake to flinch when surrounded by starving vultures; the court of the Hyuuga were no different.

"When _K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika_ has awoken, it is our duty as the court to ensure she recovers properly."

The words showed concern, but the true meaning did not elude anyone. The Uchiha are known for their illusions and cunning trickery, masters of deception – masters of fools. But nothing could deceive Hyuuga eyes and Hyuuga eyes were wary of all that they saw.

"What did the Uchiha have to say in the matter?" an elder questioned.

"He did not appear at the counsel this mid-day," a young Hyuuga representative spoke.

"Is that so?" another elder raised a brow.

To all those in the room, it was known well that the false surprise all the elders feigned was a ruse. But the efforts were more than enough to make Neji struggle to keep from squirming.

"According to an aid, His Majesty was out catching game," Neji spoke with an even voice. Hanabi was the only one to notice how his eyes turned colder.

"How worrisome that the return of _K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika_ would affect His Majesty in his duties."

The Hyuuga were well to watch the words they chose to use. Their faked concern would not fall on deaf ears, but the patronizing tone of voice was one that could not be relayed so easily. While words were concrete, how they were interpreted beyond closed doors was based on pure happenstance.

"Quite worrisome indeed," Neji agreed.

Even if a servant dare to relay the contents of the Hyuuga meeting to the Southern Wings, there would be no grounds for quarrel over the tone of voice someone thought they had heard Hyuuga Neji use among his kin.

"How are you feeling Neji?" a council member questioned. His lack of honorifics purposeful. "Is the seal garnering you too much discomfort?"

The sting in his brow had been ignored till then.

"There is no need to show a branch member like me so much concern over something so trivial." Neji attempted to answer the question with as much courtesy as he could without compromising his stance and pride among the council. "As of now, our greatest concern must be for _K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika_ and her well-being."

"Yes, that is indeed our greatest concern of the moment," an elder conceded.

The council member gave a sideways glance and Neji gave a quirk of the lips at his small victory.

" _K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika_ is sure to awaken soon," a council member mentioned. "Who should tend to her then?"

"The Yamanaka girl of course," a voice spoke.

"Perhaps within the walls," another voice mumbled.

"Yes, what of the threats from outsiders…?"

The question trailed and lingered. To those servants who passed by, their feet shuffling inconspicuously from outside the council room doors, it would have seemed that the Hyuuga were concerned of another foreign threat. To those who knew better, the Southern Wings were just as much foreign land as the king was a foreign ruler they were made to call kin.

"Was Kou not _K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika_ 's aid as a child?" a council member spoke.

"His duties are already align with young Hanabi," another corrected.

"He could be reassigned."

"It would not be wise to assign someone so unpracticed to watch over _K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika_ in her fragile state."

Hanabi did well not to wince at the cut to her pride.

"Then it would have to only be a council member."

"It can only be a council member," an echo of affirmation resounded.

"But a main branch member acting as an aid?" A voice of concern.

 _It would be an aid for_ Kōgō heika _._

The implications in those unsaid words stirred the room as murmurs began to surface.

"Who to choose?"

"Who to assign?"

"Who to volunteer for such a momentous task?"

The whispers among the Hyuuga filled the room and swelled the air so that the night sat uncomfortably just over the flicker of glowing lanterns.

"If no one else will…"

"…in my own opinion."

"As it should be…"

"…perhaps…"

Hanabi prepared to raise her voice.

"Neji will be assigned as her aid."

The room fell silent.

The voice that spoke over the crowd was not loud nor forceful, but the command it had over the council members could only be done by the voice of one Hiashi Hyuuga, his stern expression a trademark of his time as the former head of the Hyuuga council. No one dare speak a word to challenge him.

"As it should be," he continued, he voice growing hoarse from age, "a member of the branch and member of the council, should it not be obvious and fitting for such a title?"

There were whispers.

Hanabi had, the moment her father spoke, darted her attention to Neji who sat diagonal from her position. She could no longer see the expression of his eyes, but she had not missed to tightness in his shoulders. Though he usually held a firmness to his posture, this the awkward way in which he strained his neck to tilt his head felt like forced confidence than resolution.

"Neji will from this night forward be assigned as guardian of _K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika_ , as a member of the council and as his duty as a branch member."

And for the solemn reason that Hiashi did not speak aloud.

"I accept." Neji spoke, clear and resolute.

Hanabi's heart sinks as the night air chills her to the bone.

* * *

In the darkness, Sasuke does not sleep. He stands with his hands firm behind his back and feet only a shoulder width apart. His eyes cast out his large windows, staring out into the north where he could see the silver tip of the Empress's tower.

Under the dim light of the moon, casting shadows across marble floors, the night is silent but the palace in a stir.

"Why don't you wake?" his voice cracks and brakes. "Please… in heavens if nothing else…"

His hands trembling and knees growing weak. Unable to keep any strength he sinks to the floor. His forehead pressed against the glass, his teeth grit and bare as his hands desperately clawed at the window, lips quivering.

He suffocates on his own voice as a tightness in his throat threatens to tear him from the inside.

There is an ache in his chest as he heaves: ' _K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika', 'Her Majesty', 'The Queen', 'Empress of the Light',_ her titles like whispers that ripple beneath the surface.

"Hinata…!" he chokes.

But her name alone is an echo that haunts the palace and shakes him to his very core.

* * *

 _...even the sun must set beneath the horizon  
the moon disappears beyond its shadow_

* * *

 **. . .**

* * *

 _tantō: a short blade; a class of Japanese swords often worn by samurai  
K_ _ō_ _g_ _ō_ _heika: 'Her Majesty'; a formal way to address the empress_

 _It has been a while since I've truly written something genuinely multi-chaptered. Expect 7-9 sporadic installments._

 _I hope you enjoyed the opening chapter and will continue to support! All **reviews** are greatly appreciated!_


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